Overview
- Interested applicants should have a good liberal arts background and high motivation to teach.
- Practical individualized training in diagnostic-prescriptive teaching within a solid theoretical framework.
- Faculty who teach theories based on the Sally L. Smith Methodology and their day-to-day work with learning disabled adults.
- Exposure to a wide variety of methods and materials. Learning to program specific academic skills through the arts: graphics arts, woodworking, music, dance, drama, puppetry, film making, and a unique feature called Academic Clubs as used at the Lab School of Washington.
- Study specific needs of preschool, elementary, junior high, high school students, and adults at risk for or living with learning disabilities.
- For more information, contact Amalie Gorbold at sethadvising@american.edu or 202-885-3716
Welcome Message from the Faculty of the Special Education: Learning Disabilities Program
We are delighted to welcome you to the Program in Special Education: Learning Disabilities. Our graduate students are people who truly care about children and adults with learning disabilities. Our graduate students want to make a difference in this world and want to help improve the quality of human life.
We strive for excellence in what we do. We value caring, sensitivity, honesty, integrity, a positive attitude, enthusiasm, and a strong sense of responsibility. We prize resourcefulness, creativity, and uniqueness. We applaud hard work and high energy. We treasure teamwork and good communication.
Teaching children and adults effectively whose lives are on the line is an art form based on a science of highly organized, systematic approaches and techniques. Here at AU, we teach teachers the way we hope they will teach children: we do lots of hand-on, experiential learning. We call on all the art forms and sciences. There is much to learn and, it seems, never enough time to learn it all. We expect your semesters with us to be challenging and most importantly satisfying.
American University graduate students in the Special Education: Learning Disabilities program have proven to be extraordinary people, committed to helping those in need of change in their lives for the better. Thank you for being one of those people, we will do everything possible to make your time with us productive, enlightening, and fun.
